How is trait emotional intelligence important for different professional roles? An empirical contribution

Objective: Trait Emotional Intelligence (or “trait emotional self-efficacy”) as a personality trait differs from Emotional Intelligence as cognitive ability, i.e. the ability to perceive, integrate and regulate emotions. Trait EI, instead, is currently defined as a constellation of emotion-related self-perceptions and dispositions located at the lower level of personality hierarchies. Emotional intelligence is deemed to promote personal growth and thus appears a crucial factor in the coaching process. In this paper we aimed to investigate difference in TEI within four different groups. The main goal was to point out a profile of strengths and weaknesses of the different job roles. Design: A questionnaire that measures Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEIQue) was administered to participants (30 coaches, 88 managers, 100 employees and 90 university students). A multivariate profile analysis (MANOVA) was conducted in order to depict differences between these groups. Method: The TEIQue consists of 153 item and 13 facets, organized under four second order factors: well-being, self-control, emotionality and sociability. All scales exhibited good internal reliability. Results: Results pointed out that groups have different profiles. In general coaches and managers scores higher on most of the different sub-scales of the TEIQue. Conclusion: This paper aimed to have practical implications for the professional efficacy of coaches and managers. In fact, it appears that high level of emotional self-efficacy and emotional intelligence (as a trait) are pivotal to gain higher job responsibilities (in case of managers) and to promote professional and personal developmental processes (in case of the coaches).